Former N-Dubz singer Dappy punched a man in an "unprovoked attack" in a nightclub, a court has heard.

The 27-year-old, who appeared under his real name, Costadinos Contostavlos, is alleged to have got into a fight with Devonn Reid at the Evissa club in Reading on October 6 last year.

Reading Magistrates' Court heard that a fight broke out because Contostavlos began chatting to Mr Reid's female friend and girlfriend at the club's bar, and that the singer punched him after Mr Reid told him not to talk to them.

Describing the lead-up to the incident, Mr Reid said he and his friends were on the dancefloor when Contostavlos, who denies assault, approached them and asked them if they had a problem before offering them a drink.

Later Mr Reid said he saw his friend, Marie O'Reilly, and his girlfriend, Cydney Webb, chatting with Contostavlos at the bar, and that the singer had his arm around Ms O'Reilly.

He said: "I thought it was in a flirtatious way and I said to Marie 'Why are you talking with him?'

"Dappy said to me 'What, don't you want me talking to them?'

"He said 'Why don't you want me talking to them?', and I pointed to Marie and said 'Don't talk to none of them'.

"He said something and I said 'What?', and I turned to look at him and that is when he hit me straight on the nose."

Mr Reid added: "He had just turned and hit me straight with his right hand.

"After that we just gone. Bouncers came and grabbed him, I have gone to the toilet to clean myself up. He had popped my nose."

Prosecuting, Zainab Mohamed told the court Mr Reid was celebrating his 21st birthday with around 15 friends when the altercation happened.

"He becomes aware of a male who, he says, he recognised to be a person called Dappy from a music group.

"He says that, because a male is having a conversation with his female friend, he intervenes and advises the defendant his actions are not appropriate.

"He says he is punched out of nowhere once in the face, causing bleeding to stem out of his nose."

She added: "It was a completely unprovoked attack."

Defending Contostavlos, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Jon Harrison suggested to Mr Reid, a football coach, that he had been drunk that night, that Ms O'Reilly had been talking with someone else and that a tall white man who was with the singer had actually been the one to hit him.

Mr Harrison also questioned whether Mr Reid had decided to say Contostavlos had punched him because he was well-known but he denied this.

Shelene Potter, the officer investigating the case, said Contostavlos told her in interview that he had been with friends at the club and had been chatting with people to "show love".

But the singer told her he saw a group who "obviously had a problem" with him and that one gave him "evil eyes".

In her evidence, which was read out, she said Contostavlos told her that Mr Reid had pushed his friend in the forehead before doing the same to him, saying: "Do you want some too?", before he was pulled back and led away.